Sets of dilators are used in surgery in order to create an opening into a patient's body in order to gain access for such tasks as surgical or endoscopic procedures. They are particularly useful for minimally invasive surgical procedures, since the opening need be no larger than is required for the desired access. A dilator set comprises a series of dilator tubes of increasing diameter, each having a sharpened chamfered end so that they can be inserted with minimal tissue trauma, with the smallest diameter dilator tube inserted first, and the dilator tubes of increasing diameter inserted sequentially thereafter in order to enlarge the opening generated. Once the final and largest dilator tube has been inserted, the smaller inner ones can be removed, leaving a clear aperture for performing the desired surgical or endoscopic procedure.
Current sets of dilators are inserted manually one after the other by the surgeon, which is a time consuming procedure whose quality can be variable depending on the way the procedure is conducted. Some prior art dilator sets and the methods of using them are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,266 to L. E. Groshong et al, for “Catheter Dilator/Sheath Assembly and Method” and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,044 to K. T. Foley et al, for “Devices and Methods for Percutaneous Surgery” and in U.S. Pat. No. 7,811,303 to T. W. Fallin et al., for “Bodily Tissue Dilation Systems and Methods” and in US Paten Application Publication No. 2013/0041398 to J. Goddard et al, for “Dilator”.
A power driven dilator insertion system, such as using a power drive or a drill, or a robot could greatly speed up the insertion process. Additionally, the use of robotic procedures in computer aided surgery has raised the need for a dilator set, which can be inserted automatically into the patient's body, preferably without human intervention, other than perhaps initial alignment of the insertion position and direction.
There therefore exists a need for an automatically inserted dilator set which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of prior art manual dilator sets.
The disclosures of each of the publications mentioned in this section and in other sections of the specification, are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.